London gears up for annual film festival showcase

The 56th edition of the BFI London Film Festival is set to kick of on
Wednesday, with highlights including the European premiere of Tim Burton's
Frankenweenie and the world premiere of the new Rolling Stones documentary
Crossfire Hurricane.

7:00AM BST 10 Oct 2012

Tim Burton, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irvine are some of the stars expected to bring glitz and glam to the festival's red carpet.

Burton's Frankenweenie, a black-and-white animated tale of a boy and his dog, will be the opening picture this year.

The director will be joined by some of the stars who lent their voices to the feature, including Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short and Martin Landau.

Celebrating its European premiere the film will also be screened into 30 cinemas across Britain at the same time as the premiere itself in an effort to extend the festival's reach beyond London.

Organisers hope this new addition to the festival will also also help set it apart from other festivals.

Following in the wake of Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, London has for some time been facing stiff competition from these high-profile and higher-ranking magnets for the big studios and A-listers. The relatively new Rome festival, which starts in November is also proving a challenge.

Of the 12 world premieres at the British showcase this year, the release gaining the biggest hype is the new Rolling Stones documentary, Crossfire Hurricane.

A total of 225 films are set to screen during the 12-day long event.

Other films include Roger Michell's Hyde Park on Hudson which sees Bill Murray play American president Franklin D Roosevelt and Graham Chapman's biopic A Liar's Autobiography as well as the Alfred Hitchcock directed silent film The Manxman.

The Mike Newell directed adaptation of Dickens' classic novel Great Expectations will be this year's closing film, starring Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch and Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, as well as Jeremy Irvine who plays Pip, an orphan who is catapulted out of poverty and transformed into a gentleman by a mysterious benefactor.